The survival zombie MMO H1Z1 is slowly taking shape. The loot problems seem to be resolved, and next, SOE will address the issues with names. Meanwhile, curious gameplay scenes are emerging.
This week, they seem to have resolved the loot problem in H1Z1 that caused so much trouble and led some to downgrade the game to a “blueberries, stick and boredom” simulator.
Next, they will tackle the naming issues, as “Twink” names block the names that players actually want. More importantly: In H1Z1, everyone should be held accountable for their “good or bad name.”
One character per server
Then it will also be about twinks, regarding multiple characters on one account. At the moment, players create a fully equipped character on a server and save them for “hard times” to log in and play a sort of “avenger of the recently killed” and similar things that should not happen in a zombie scenario as they prevent consequences. It’s bad enough that zombies get back up; players should not have that.
That’s why it should soon apply: Only one global name for all characters. And only one character per server. Additionally, they want to take care of base building.
A timeline for this is mentioned in tweets where the developers communicate, but not specified.
Let’s be Cops
When discussing H1Z1, it always sounds like the game is still in total ruins. However, that is not the case. Even in its current state, there are repeatedly strong gameplay sequences, like in this video where players act as “cops” on a Battle Royale server. As the bad cop and a really, really bad cop.
Here you can also admire the naming problems (some seem to just string together consonants), and you can see the voice chat in action (not exactly kid-friendly) and the battle royal mode shows its strengths.
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The upcoming MMO shooter The Division is set to receive a complete German localization.
In a small interview with a German fan site, the developers of The Division mentioned something about a German localization: It’s on track. They place a lot of value on details and are confident that the German localization will be fantastic.
However, a small disappointment for all zombie fans. The Division takes place in a post-apocalyptic world but feels connected to Tom Clancy and is therefore committed to authenticity. There will be no zombies or anything like that in this world.
Tom Clancy, for those who don’t know, was an American author closely associated with intelligence services and the military (and has a quite patriotic connection to the US). His novels often deal with power politics, crises, covert operations, the limits of diplomacy, World War scenarios, and threats, and certainly also with military solutions, but – it must be said – never about zombies.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A purported insider leak has now emerged at Blizzard, stating that Hearthstone is a huge success and that Activision Blizzard has low expectations for Heroes of the Storm.
A leak has now appeared, not in some small forum, but on the Yahoo Finance website. However, the text has since been deleted. Tae Kim, the author who wrote about it, claims he considers the source of the leak to be trustworthy, as they had known and mentioned details about Overwatch before the official announcement in November.
Nothing is confirmed here, and this should be taken with the utmost caution.
According to this leak, the following is true for Blizzard Games:
Hearthstone – super successful
Hearthstone continues to exceed Blizzard’s wildest expectations. The game has now surpassed the 75 million mark of players. This is almost 4 times higher than the last reported numbers.
The next expansion is supposed to come in April. Blizzard is working on a 2vs2 mode.
Overwatch: Release 2016, still issues with the business model
For Overwatch, according to the leak, Blizzard has still not agreed on a business model. Players should definitely be able to play it for free, but it still needs to be clarified how exactly they pay for the heroes.
Some in the team had hoped for a release in 2015. However, even if there is a small chance for December 2015, it looks more like a release in early 2016, according to the anonymous source.
World of Warcraft – resolving bottleneck
For World of Warcraft, they have now quadrupled spending on “outsourced art” (i.e., graphics done outside of the studio). This area has hindered certain developments in the past and has been a bottleneck.
The next expansion is “feature-complete.”
Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Heroes of the Storm
For Heroes of the Storm, they have relatively low expectations. The “higher-ups” at Activision Blizzard expect that they will have to let some of the developers go.
The next Starcraft 2 game is now finished. A release date fluctuates between April and June.
Work on Diablo 3 has largely been halted, and the team is now working on a Warframe-like game in the Starcraft universe with elements from Smite, DayZ, Left4Dead, and MOBAs.
This last statement even triggered one of the rare reactions from Blizzard. They usually don’t comment on rumors and speculation. But they made it clear that the Diablo 3 team continues to work on Diablo 3 and is not planning any “secret project” in the Starcraft universe.
To reiterate: The information in this article is by no means confirmed by Blizzard. The source is anonymous, known only to the author Tae Kim, who seems to trust it.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Guild Wars 2, after the announcement of the expansion “Heart of Thorns”, the prices for pre-cursor weapons seem to have collapsed, which are expected to be earnable by players in a planned manner in the future.
When asked about the collapse of the pre-cursor market, Game Director Colin Johanson responded: “And I wasn’t home to buy one cheaply!”
Johanson believes that the prices for pre-cursors were already too high and hopes that they will continue to fall with the announcement. The new way to earn pre-cursors will surely be more fun than the current one.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The developers of the god MMO Skyforge have invited players to a Q&A session. There, they explained why there is no swimming in their world and how long it will take for players to unlock new classes.
Skyforge is designed for years, according to a Q&A session with the developers. And players earn the right to new classes over time.
Dad, why can’t I be the god I want to be? You have to earn that, my boy
Some might ask: Why do we only start with three classes to choose from in Skyforge?
The answer is: These are the three base classes for Tank, DPS, and Support. They are easy to play and serve as the basic version with which aspiring gods first learn the fundamentals.
Players are supposed to earn the right to “advanced” classes. If they were available from the start, motivation would quickly fade, say the developers. Players should expect to spend at least 3 weeks before they can access advanced classes. Unlocking all skills for a class in Skyforge will take even longer.
Anyone wanting to play Skyforge on ultra will likely need a pretty powerful PC.
Initially, add-ons are not supported.
There will be no direct trading between players, only through the “Trade Hub”, a sort of auction house.
The followers and adepts cannot be used as combat companions.
Swimming is completely left out because it would fundamentally require designing a whole new underwater Skyforge if done well. They don’t want to do things half-heartedly, so it’s completely omitted.
Key bindings can be set freely in Skyforge.
Each class will be able to use one weapon type.
There should be enough customization options to avoid any war of the clan gods.
Mein MMO thinks: The class system is a new trend. Here, Skyforge is indeed not only inspired by League of Legends, which does not limit players to a role but allows them to play new archetypes, but Skyforge also resembles the system in Evolve. There, too, you initially only play with “base classes” of an archetype and unlock others with effort. A less pronounced version of such a class system also exists in Final Fantasy XIV.
You can find more about Skyforge and its interesting ideas on our Skyforge page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
New screenshots of WiLD have emerged, the PlayStation 4 MMO that caused a stir at Gamescom.
So far, only a trailer and some super interesting design approaches are known about WiLD. The game is said to take place 10,000 years before the birth of Christ in a Celtic-influenced Europe, where the world is still almost untouched by human hands. A scenario in which the world of gods and fantasy was not yet as closely separated from what we call reality as it was in later times.
Giants are said to wander the world, fantastic creatures roam it, and it should even be possible to slip into the skin (or scales) of individual living beings.
The quality is already ensured by the name of the man at the helm: that’s Michel Ancel, the brains behind Rayman and the Beyond Good & Evil titles. Sony also seems to be looking forward to the title and made sure to give it plenty of space at Gamescom.
Well, and the trailer just looked fantastic and seemed to make the PlayStation 4 shine.
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The Korea MMO Black Desert is set to receive its sixth class in February, the Samurai will be a classic lightweight melee fighter.
In January, we got a pet class with the Beast Master, the Beast Master, which is something for manga fans. Now Black Desert is targeting another audience, more fans of the ‘classics’, and introduces the Samurai, which until now has been referred to in the West as ‘Fencer’. Unlike the brutal Giant, another Melee DPS class, he will likely focus more on speed and finesse in close combat.
Where “Samurai” might also just be a provisional name here: “Blader” or “Swordsman” are also being heard. Those are also translation issues.
Not much is known about him yet, but he seems to be “Wind”-affine. In February, there should also be a new region, Mediah, alongside the Samurai.
Officially, Black Desert is still in Open Beta, though that probably makes little difference for a Free2Play game compared to the release.
For the West, we should soon expect the first tests, a release could then be scheduled for early 2016. Though “soon” is always a tricky subject.
For those who want to get involved with the game, we recommend our extensive preview .
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In the MMO shooter Destiny, the mysterious black market trader Xur, the Agent of the Nine, appears on January 30th. Where he is located, what he has to offer, and how he changes the lives of Guardians in Destiny this time, you can find out in our article with screenshots and video.
Two weeks ago, Xur was incredibly popular and in demand. He had the Icebreaker with him. Young Guardians held babies to him, asking him to bless them. The lame could walk again, the blind could see, everything was wonderful, and Xur left with huge profits.
In the last week, the other end of the scale was reached. Xur only had the No Land Beyond in his inventory. Quickly, the Tower was deserted, the confetti remained in people’s pockets, and everyone hung their heads, while some insults (“snake-faced bastard”, and that came from Bungie) flew in Xur’s direction.
Three things could make his arrival this time friendlier: Heavy ammo synths, the Heart of the Praxic Fire, and the weapon whose name is not to be mentioned, for fear that it might be scared away. Should he actually have those items, then the Icebreaker was just the beginning. Well, in any case, the Offering Quest will continue for 48 hours…
All about Xur, the Agent of the Nine, on January 30th, 31st, and February 1st in Destiny
When does Xur arrive in the Tower and how long does he stay?
Xur arrives on Friday, January 30th, at 10:00 AM German time and leaves on Sunday, February 1st, also at 10:00 AM.
Where is Xur? What is his location?
Xur is located in the North Tower, by the Speaker.
Our friends at ziro.tv are going through this for you.
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These are the values (Int, Dis, or Str) of the exotic armors. The first number is the “starting value” at light level 30, the second and higher number is the maximum value at light level 36. We have written an article about it.
What weapons and armor does Xur have for Titans, Warlocks, and Hunters?
This week, Xur has the exotic rocket launcher Dragon’s Breath for 17 strange coins. He offered it just once before, four weeks ago.
For Warlocks, he offers the Starfire Protocol (134/144), a DLC chest piece, which he has been selling constantly lately. In the last five weeks, four times. It seems to be the new Voidfang Vestment. As always: Xur hates Warlocks.
For Hunters, he has the gloves “Don’t Touch Me” (weak 76/82). He last offered those five weeks ago.
For Titans, the DLC boots Type 44 In the Offside (134/144). He just had these in Destiny last week, though with a weaker roll.
Xur has exotic glove engrams, but no synths for heavy ammo.
However, for those who need ammo for conspiracy theories: The 4 items Xur is offering today were already part of this exact configuration on January 2nd. (Even a glove engram was available back then).
What weapons and armor can Xur upgrade in Destiny this week?
Xur can upgrade six armors and six or seven weapons each week. More details on this game mechanic are summarized in this article. Keep in mind that it only makes sense to upgrade “old” versions of the Exotics, meaning anything with a higher maximum damage than 300 or a higher light level than 30.
Xur can upgrade the following armors this week:
For Hunters, the Mask of the Third Man (104/112), a helmet
… and Ahamkara’s Spine (80/86), gloves
For Titans, he upgrades the Helm of Inmost Light (strong 118/127)
… and the Mark of Alpha-Lupi (124/134), a chest piece
For Warlocks, he upgrades the Skull of Dire Ahamkara (111/119), a helmet
… and the gloves Sunsinger (strong 103/110)
Xur can upgrade the following six weapons this week:
In this week’s Weekly Update for Destiny, Bungie addresses heavy ammunition. There is a bug that is so deeply rooted in the system that it will take at least four more weeks to fix it. Additionally, innovative ways to defeat Crota in Hard Mode are introduced.
The “Heavy Ammunition” bug, which repeatedly strips Guardians of their heavy ammunition, is one of the major topics in social networks and forums surrounding Destiny. It makes raids more challenging, costs Glimmer, and is just incredibly annoying. What’s worse is that it has been mentioned so often, and yet, at least according to casual opinion, it shouldn’t be a big deal to fix.
Guardians are constantly reminding Bungie to fix the bug as quickly as possible. It occurs when Guardians in Destiny wear armor that is supposed to increase their capacity for heavy ammunition.
The “Heavy Ammunition” bug has plagued Destiny for months
On Reddit, there’s been a “fun” thread created daily for a while now: Bungie should finally take care of this.
And when it was announced last week in the Weekly Update how many strange coins Xur has collected through the Icebreaker, a thread was quickly opened, wishing for exact figures on how much heavy ammunition had disappeared for this Weekly Update. As expected, Bungie has withheld this information.
The bug is deep in the heart of the system
Bungie is naturally aware of the problem and explains in the Weekly Update why it takes so long to address a fix. It is an error that lies hidden in the depths of the code.
When a Guardian respawns (after their death, after a cutscene, or when returning from orbit), the Guardian and their ammunition are recreated.
The system assigns them ammunition that is supposed to match the last ammunition they had. However, the weapons and thus the ammunition are created before the armor’s “capacity” is accounted for, and here there are modifiers that can increase the ammo reserve. This is quite a serious problem that is not easy to solve, at least not without introducing serious new issues. Simply removing the feature is also not an option.
The basic flaw here is an ordering problem. Our inventory system creates your weapons when your characters spawn. When that happens, it tries to restore the same fraction of ammo that you had when you died. The bug occurred because the weapon is created before capacity modifiers from armor perks are applied, so the persisted fraction yields fewer rounds.
At Bungie, they believe they are getting closer to a remedy, a targeted fix, and are promising a solution to the problem that hopefully will be deployed by the end of February.
The error seems to lie at a critical junction where various systems of Destiny come together. Thus, a solution that doesn’t create more problems than it solves is delicate.
Creative solutions for Crota
Otherwise, the Weekly Update for Destiny brought, as so often, relatively little new.
Praise was given to the strategy and skill of the Guardians in disposing of a certain “Crota” and highlighted two particularly effective strategies that Bungie likely hadn’t thought of themselves.
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And perhaps as a small ray of hope for the hoarders among you: In the comments, the community manager assured that Bungie is discussing expanding the vault, the storage space for Guardians. They know how much Guardians want this, and they want it too. Such new features take time to develop.
On Fridays, there’s always a double combo within 10 hours. First comes the Weekly Update at night, then Xur will be back in the Tower on Friday, January 30, at 10:00 AM. We will report whether he has brought us more. It would be appropriate if he brought heavy ammo syntheses with him. Some Guardians would be more pleased with that at the moment than with any Exotics.
The fantasy MMO Guild Wars 2 will never raise the maximum level or introduce new gear tiers into the game. But the new specializations that come with Heart of Thorns are just the beginning.
Guild Wars 2 is determined to forge its own path, not focusing on upward growth and not trying to keep stacking stones on the pyramid. This was made clear at the announcement of the Heart of Thorns expansion in Texas over the weekend. It was stated that the expansion will not bring a new maximum level or “better” item tiers. Such a “power creep” or “vertical progression” is not the way of Guild Wars 2.
In an interview with eurogamer, game director Colin Johanson was even more explicit: “We will NEVER add new levels and we will NEVER introduce a new gear tier. As long as Guild Wars 2 exists, the current level cap will remain the level cap.”
“We will never add more levels to the game, we will never add more tiers of gear to the game. The tiers and levels we have today will be the tiers and levels we have for the rest of the life of Guild Wars 2.”
After Heart of Thorns, more specializations are expected
With the specializations introduced with Heart of Thorns, things look quite different. Each base class will now receive a specialization and effectively become a secondary class, a kind of prestige class. The ranger, for instance, can become a druid. This specialization will include mastery of another weapon type, in this case the staff, new traits, skills, including a heal and an elite talent.
This first round of specializations is just the beginning. According to Johanson, there could be more in the future, providing players with more options.
“is the framework we’re going to use to grow every progression in the future, so we’re going to continue to add more Specialisations to professions after the expansion, and give you the ability to select between more and more of these.”
New details about the Revenant in Guild Wars 2
Johanson also mentioned details about the new class Revenant in the interview. He will be able to channel the legends of the past and depending on whom he summons, the entire back half of his hotbar will change and acquire new abilities.
Instead of vertical progression, a diagonal one?
Mein MMO says: If every expansion or content update brings new “specializations”, essentially “bonus” levels, there is actually no need to raise the base level. Although, in GW2, that wouldn’t be a problem since the areas adapt to the hero’s level anyway.
The decision regarding gear tiers… certainly an interesting one; they want to motivate players to engage with the content through masteries and “new skills”. This isn’t exactly a revolution, but rather a consistent continuation of a path that, of course, has also brought difficulties.
It is indeed a “new” way, but not tremendously innovative or risky. Whether players are referred to as level 90 or level 80+ with masteries doesn’t make much of a difference… At least a AAA game is doing something distinctly different here.
For more information about Guild Wars 2 and the Heart of Thorns expansion, visit our GW2 theme page.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The free-to-play MMO Cabal 2 has now introduced its six classes in a trailer.
At PAX South in Texas, alongside major announcements for Guild Wars 2, other MMOs were represented, including the Asia import Cabal 2. The free-to-play action MMO will launch with six classes:
Force Archer, a bowman
Force Blader, a nimble melee fighter
Force Shielder, a classic tank
Wizard, a prototypical wizard
Priest, a priestess
Warrior, a powerful two-handed warrior
Allegedly, the six classes should fulfill all important roles to make it attractive to have one of each in the group. For example, the Force Archer can take away an enrage effect from the boss that would otherwise strengthen him further with increasing combat duration. Through this rebalancing of the classes, they want to avoid situations where groups, like in Cabal, stack four DDs of the same class, known as stacking.
Five of the six classes are taken from the predecessor, with only the Priest being new to the game. The Blader had to make way for him.
Cabal II is a free-to-play MMO from Asia that primarily focuses on the combat system, where players can quickly chain abilities to gain damage multipliers or use reactive abilities to benefit from special combat situations (e.g., when the opponent is knocked down).
The game is supposed to be released in Germany in spring 2015. There is currently no date for a announced closed and open beta. In South Korea, the game has been available since December 2012.
The first Cabal was released in 2005 in Korea and had a total of 26 million players in 26 different countries by mid-2014. One of the special features of Cabal is that the game is particularly popular among women, who are said to make up 30% of the Asian player base.
Here is the combat trailer with a brief appearance of the different classes.
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And here is a current dev interview from Pax South, in which, for example, the release date is discussed and that Cabal II is already quite far along in development:
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On February 24, the US version of Tera will introduce: Guild housing in the air, the Skycastles, is coming.
On February 24, TERA continues with new content. Then the Sky-Castles, the floating castles or sky fortresses, will be introduced. Tera guilds will compete for them, as everyone wants to move in there. However, it will probably be a privilege reserved only for the top guilds. In two 4-week periods, once for PvE and once for PvP, the competition will decide who will soon reside in the highest layer above the world of Arborea. To determine the new tenants, the earned points from dungeons, PvP, and guild battles will be counted and compared.
In addition, on February 24, a new instance, the Sky Cruiser Endeavor, and the Hard Mode for the “Fate of Arun” Underwater Dungeon Bathysmal Rise will also be released. A new 5-vs-5 battlefield version of the Hero’s Sky Ring will also be added.
TERA Player Count Impressive: 17 Million Registered Accounts Worldwide
TERA has accumulated 17 million registered accounts worldwide since its launch, it is announced. With the Skycastles, there is now likely the feature that many guilds have been looking forward to the most. US publisher En Masse Entertainment rejoices, stating that there has never been a better time to join a guild.
As for how it looks in the West with floating castles and other dungeons, we have taken a look at in this article. It can probably be assumed that the EU version will come around the same time, so it is also expected at the end of February.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In the MMO shooter Destiny, a lot can go wrong in the final battle against the raid boss Crota. But not always is the fight lost.
Today, we want to introduce you to a video that doesn’t need many words.
You probably know the fight against Crota by now and also the helplessness you feel when the sword bearer collapses at the last moment. Then you know: “Just a few seconds more and it would hit me. And I can’t do anything, absolutely nothing against it.”
“Not with me!”, thought one of the fire team members in this raid and improvised spectacularly when things started to go wrong with Crota (Hard) after the sword bearer fell.
For 30 seconds be a real hero – or as they like to say in Destiny: “Become Legend.” Or to put it a bit more simply: Quick thinking, Plan B actually worked.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
In Destiny, the legendary and exotic weapons often have absurd and obscure names. Where do they come from?
TFWPKY, ANITC, Gjallarhorn, Badger CCL, Doctor Nope, LDR 5001, the Trolley Problem … Where did Bungie get all these names from? And what in Eris’ crazy breath do they mean?
If you’ve ever wondered about this, you should treat yourself to this article. Wonderful useless trivia knowledge that you’ll remember for a lifetime while forgetting what the second binomial formula is after five minutes. Isn’t the human brain amazing?
Another NITC – The scout rifle of the Vanguard is probably called “Another Nail in the Coffin”. This is an English idiom describing a step that brings one closer to the grave. Sometimes, cigarettes are referred to as such.
Badger CCL – The other scout rifle of the Vanguard. It is believed that Bungie refers to “Badger couldn’t care less” and hints at a quite popular (72 million views) YouTube video about a honey badger, a creature that is so fearless that it doesn’t care about anything. Seems fitting for Destiny.
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Doctor Nope – the automatic rifle is a clear reference to the Bond villain Doctor No. Suited for Destiny, it has a slightly more casual vibe.
Found Verdict (Schuldig befunden) – the shotgun probably alludes to Judge Dredd’s standard saying before he starts. There is also a character in the fantasy cycle of a Canadian author (The Game of the Gods) to which this saying would also apply. Many references are ambiguous and could refer to various sources.
Gjallarhorn – this is the horn of Heimdall from Norse mythology, which he blows to warn the gods of the impending apocalypse (Ragnarok). Most today probably know the bridge guardian Heimdall from the Thor movies, where he is impressively played by Idris Elba.
LDR 5001 – the sniper rifle LDR plays on “Long Distance Relationship.” 5001 feet would be about 1.5 kilometers … a distance within which a sniper rifle can still deliver a deadly shot. A macabre allusion to the fact that shooter and victim are in a kind of long-distance relationship.
No Land Beyond (Kein Land Ausserhalb) – we have already written something about this. This is a direct quote from a well-known Russian sniper in World War II. The film “Duell – Enemy at the gates” tells his story. It is perhaps the most obvious reference in Destiny. It also has multiple layers; just as the sniper had to defend Stalingrad against overwhelming odds, the Guardians must defend the “last city” against an overwhelming darkness and “reclaim their land.” One of the dominant themes in Destiny.
One Way Ticket 000 – 000 is the Australian emergency phone code, a “One Way Ticket,” a simple fare will take you to the morgue.
Patience and Time (Geduld und Zeit) – comes from Tolstoy’s century novel War and Peace – the strongest warriors are said to be patience and time.
Plan C – this is the plan when even Plan B goes wrong. An “emergency plan” when all else fails.
Red Death (Roter Tod) – probably refers to Edgar Allan Poe’s tale “The Masque of the Red Death.” There, the wealthy of a city celebrate Carnival in isolation while the population dies from the plague. But the “red death” appears at their masked ball and brings ruin.
TFWPKY 1969 – The Fall will probably kill you – is a quite legendary quote from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” – a film from 1969. Two outlaws consider escaping a hopeless situation by jumping into a deep river. One steadfastly refuses because he can’t swim. The other says: “Are you crazy? Probably the fall will kill you anyway.”
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The 4th Horseman (der 4. Reiter) – the Revelation of John in the Bible, the Apocalypse, describes the end of all days and knows four apocalyptic riders, the 4th is “Death.”
The Comedian – could be a reference to Watchmen, where the “Comedian” is a rather insane, melancholic, violent hitman and superhero.
The Devil you know, The Devil you don’t – a reference to a US proverb: The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t, because you know what to expect from him. In Destiny, the devil you know (the weapon) is considered much better compared to the “The Devil you don’t” – the devil you don’t know.
Trolley Problem – this is a relatively well-known thought experiment in which people are asked if they would switch the tracks of a trolley to save five people, even if it would condemn one other to death. A “Trolley” is the English word for tram. The flavor text of the weapon explains: “Pull the switch, it’s the right decision.”
Unfriendly Giant (Unsanfter Riese) – perhaps the most obscure reference: The text for the weapon “Unfriendly might be a bit too harsh. He’s actually quite shy” refers to a yogurt shop near Bungie’s headquarters, called “Shy Giant Frozen Yogurt.” The weapon name in Destiny itself is likely derived from a children’s book by Roald Dahl.
Two to the Morgue – this is probably a reference to “The Untouchables,” a film with Kevin Costner and Sean Connery, where it underscores the importance of repaying violence not with equal violence, but with greater violence – “They send one of us to the hospital, we send two of them to the morgue.”
This was just a selection of the many weapon references that Bungie has hidden in Destiny. And it’s not just weapons that are teeming with them. In shaders, ships, armor, and many other things in the game, there are more such winking or clever details to discover.
What are your favorite names in Destiny?
P.S.: We have a bonus. If you ever wondered what “Mythoclast” means: The word describes the destruction of myths.
Just like back then for the “Big Alpha”, Turtle Rock Studios has now released a new infographic after the beta weekend for Evolve, showcasing some quite interesting statistics.
The developers are particularly proud of the successful balancing: 51.5% of all games were won by the hunters, leaving the remaining 48.5% to the monster players. A difference of only 3% is something that many other multiplayer games can only dream of. They want to tweak the Wraith a bit more, as it has managed to win just over 70% of all games.
But TurtleRock is confident that they have brought her close to the 50% mark by slightly nerfing her abilities and not allowing her to warp while cloaked anymore. This also creates exciting new gameplay, as the monster player must first break line of sight with the hunters before they can warp to safety if they do not want to be chased.
Matchmaking solid, average gameplay duration 10 minutes
They are also satisfied with the new matchmaking system; the opponent assignment was noticeably better than in the Alpha, with “veterans” at level 20+ no longer having to occasionally fight against level 1 fresh meat. This likely saved both sides a lot of boredom.
However, there were still small errors with lobby creation, as the game often tried to group together more than 5 players, resulting in disconnections for frustrated friends. They want to have fixed these issues now.
I also find the average gameplay duration quite interesting: A match lasts on average just under ten minutes. Therefore, hardly anyone will be able to complain about “too long quiet phases” at the start of a match when the game is released in two weeks, on February 10th.
Square Enix rewards buyers of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn. Players who have already purchased the game and whose subscription is currently inactive can try out the new features of the MMO for free this weekend.
Convert Renegades
By new features, we mean the features that were integrated into the game with the Update 2.5 “Before the Fall”. There are new dungeons and the continuation of the Hildibrand saga. Square Enix has also provided crafting recipes. This coming Friday (30.01.2015) from 09:00, until the following Monday (02.02.2015) at 09:00, former heroes can plunge back into the adventure.
This can almost be considered a tradition, as after each major update, former players have the opportunity to experience the quality of the new content.
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Are you taking the opportunity to immerse yourself in the Final Fantasy world again?
If you have never played Final Fantasy XIV and would like to try the successful MMORPG, you can use the free Trial version. This is available for PC, PS3, and PS4. Furthermore, we recommend reading the user comment “Is FFXIV worth it?” by Zeeko (below the post).
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
For the 4th time this year, the week is nearing its peak, and I’m slowly running out of topics. Fortunately, a strained (or extremely dreamy) glance at my own desk is all it takes to find something to get wonderfully worked up about.
You would think that in the digital age, the old-fashioned college pads would have slowly become obsolete – but of course, we didn’t account for the pitfalls of the internet, did we?
Three Websites That Determine My Entire Life
[pullquote]You are the tabloid of online magazines.[/pullquote]
Yes, I know. The headline is a bit grandiose. But how did a reader put it in the comments? “You are the tabloid of online magazines.” Then, of course, we have to deliver from time to time, or someone will be disappointed. But back to the main topic.
Next to my keyboard lies an old pad, and although it probably has a good 10 years on it, I take better care of it than many seminar folders. What could be so important that I would prefer to never lose sight of it, but also not want to store it digitally?
Of course, we’re talking about access credentials. Over the years, so much has accumulated: 27 different accounts for games, plus the “mandatory three”: Steam, BattleNet, and Origin. 6 more entries pertain to my various email addresses that I have created over the years – you know how it is. One for work, one for personal use, one for spam, one for the boss, which you only check once a week… and so on. The last five columns are the access data for social media: Facebook, Twitter, and co.
I can claim without exaggeration that a person who had access to these papers could turn my entire private and work life upside down.
I Need Microsoft Outlook – But for My Games
Since my lovely old World of Warcraft account was hacked about 4 years ago, I really use a different password for every program and service (and for our smarties in advance: No, I wasn’t on any gold seller sites and wasn’t completely naive when entering my data).
[pullquote]Something like Outlook or Thunderbird, just for all sorts of game accounts[/pullquote]
One would think that over the years, you’d remember the passwords, but as often as I change them or switch my current favorite game, I can’t keep up with memorizing them. What I would need is a program that unifies all the login services. Something like Outlook or Thunderbird, just for all sorts of game accounts.
At the same time, that would of course bring about a security issue, as this “master program” would also need to be protected by a password – and whoever had that, I could probably just leave my pad to them. Why can’t everything just run through Steam?
How do you handle all of this? Are you also so “paranoid” and have different passwords for everything? How many different accounts have accumulated for you over the last decade? Is anyone still reading this? Hello?
… See you next week!
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
The survival horror game Dying Light mocks the “legendary” loot cave in the MMO shooter Destiny.
In the new zombie shooter “Dying Light,” there is a loot cave, and that is no coincidence, but a jab at Bungie’s successful shooter Destiny.
Hidden in the farthest corner of the world of Dying Light, a cave awaits the player. There it reads, “Your destiny is to build your legend (and get loot)” – a clear reference to “Destiny,” the infamous loot cave, Bungie’s “Become Legend” marketing, and the ominous fascination of the Guardians for their beloved loot.
According to a player on reddit, after entering the cave an unholy number of zombies spawn, and when they are finally defeated, it says: “Enough! Patch 1.0.2 has been released! Do more quests!” – “Enough, the Patch 1.02 is out, do more quests now.”
It was somewhat similar, if we remember correctly, also in Destiny, right?
The treasure cave in Destiny was a spot where players quickly surrounded spawning enemy hordes to get their engrams, which Master Rahool then conveniently turned into rubbish. This is what Destiny looked like back in September and October. Long ago, and it was often mocked. Not least also by Bungie itself. Now they have, of course, other problems.
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For those wondering what Guardians do today instead of the “old” treasure cave when they feel like such stationary shooting: Either farm Glimmer on Mars or farm engrams on Venus.
Otherwise, as Bungie desired, player activity has shifted more to strikes, the nightfall, or the current raid. The treasure cave probably lives on only in memories for most or recently as an Easter egg in Dying Light.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
A player in Destiny reached Rank 100 with the reputation faction “Dead Orbit.” But at the end of the rainbow, there was no pot of gold waiting.
The Bitter Steel shader on a diligent Guardian.
The endless ranks with factions or the Cryptarch in Destiny create the idea that there must be something more to gain. That Bungie has hidden some special gimmick at Ranks 25, 50, 100 in these dizzying heights, just waiting to be discovered by an explorer.
And to be that first explorer, Guardians in Destiny take on quite a lot. They go where no Guardian has gone before, such as reaching Rank 100 with one of the Crucible reputation factions.
On reddit, a Guardian shared (and can prove) that he reached reputation Rank 100 with the faction “Dead Orbit.” However, the reward was not something special, but the same as all reputation rank-ups from Rank 3 onwards:
A legendary Dead Orbit package
Here the Guardian opened 18 Dead Orbit packages one after the other.
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What rewards are available from reputation factions like Dead Orbit, New Monarchy, or Future War Cult?
There is a chance for legendary faction gear, also for certain faction shaders, emblems, and even a special spaceship alongside the Crucible title and the materials.
But there is no “special” reward waiting for players at certain round ranks.
The diligent player then thought and proposed that Bungie could provide fixed rewards at “round” ranks: perhaps a legendary spaceship at Rank 50, a special ghost shell at Rank 75, and at Rank 100 a very special exotic.
This is the legendary reputation spaceship from Dead Orbit: The Fermi Solution.
Is there a maximum rank in the factions?
But this is probably not going to happen anytime soon. Bungie seems not to have anticipated such high “reputation tiers” and likely doesn’t want to promote such extreme farming. There is no official statement at any rate.
The Guardian with 1200 hours in Dead Orbit is, by the way, satisfied and happy with Destiny, even if he thinks that Bungie could still do a bit more.
And somehow frightening: After Rank 100, it just keeps going. He is already at Rank 104 now. Trend: Rising.
The patch notes for Update 6 of The Elder Scrolls Online encompass nearly 94 standard pages, making it longer than some novellas. This massive update brings important new game systems to Tamriel and turns the previous balance upside down.
The patch notes for Update 6 contain 24,235 words, which amounts to 94 standard pages of 1800 characters each. We’re not quite at “novel length” yet, but we’re not far off. Novels typically start at around 150 pages. So two-thirds of it is already completed.
No wonder Update 6 didn’t arrive as originally planned within the “Every 6 weeks something new” rhythm in December; it took until the end of January to be weighed onto the test server. It will take a few more weeks to thoroughly test all the features and changes. However, it must be finished by mid-March, as the switch to Buy2Play is on the way.
We at mein-mmo.de have already covered most of the major system changes coming to the test server of ESO:
When Update 6 goes live is still unknown at the moment. Interested players can now take a look at the update on the test server.
This article, by the way, only has a measly standard page. When looking at the performance of the Zenimax employees, we develop standard page envy and hope that they have good ergonomic keyboards in Maryland.
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
